Ashley News Observer

1 week ago | ashleynewsobserver.com | Vershal Hogan

Hamburg School District officials said federal efforts to restructure or otherwise do away with the U.S. Department of Education means that at the local level districts still have a lot of questions. “There is a lot of speculation, (but) I would like to speak to facts — and only facts — because I am not the government,” HSD PLC Coordinator Lesley Nelms told the school board April 14. The continuing resolution that Congress adopted March 14 reauthorized the Department of Education through Sept.

1 week ago | ashleynewsobserver.com | Vershal Hogan

The Ashley County Quorum Court approved last week a tax incentive package connected to Georgia-Pacific’s December announcement that it would expand its operations in Crossett and add approximately 50 jobs. The April 8 vote was largely procedural, a formal adoption of the necessary resolution to put the incentive package in place.

1 week ago | ashleynewsobserver.com | Vershal Hogan

The Crossett School District’s Board of Education adopted last week a calendar for next school year that includes starting classes for students on Aug. 12 and ending them by the last week of May. The calendar adopted April 8 was one of two options available, though the two were substantially similar. During the 2025-2026 school year, students will have at least one day off each month, including Labor Day in September; a fall break on Oct.

1 week ago | ashleynewsobserver.com | Vershal Hogan

When the Crossett Eagles completed in the McGehee High School Senior Owl Relays on April 10, Lady Eagle Jordin Temple dominated the meet’s jumping events. A junior, Temple is already the defending state champion for the triple jump, and her first place triple jump mark of 35-10 at the McGehee meet was more than a foot beyond the second place finisher. When she approached the high jump, Temple cleared the bar to take first in the event, leaping to a mark of 5-0.

2 weeks ago | ashleynewsobserver.com | Vershal Hogan

A man who at one time had been his victim’s pastor was sentenced to three years in prison for second-degree sexual assault last week. Judge Crews Puryear sentenced Billy Sherrer to 36 months in the Arkansas Department of Corrections with an additional 36 months suspended imposition of sentence on April 1 after Sherrer pleaded guilty to sexual assault in the second degree, a Class B felony. Sherrer, 74, of Parkdale, was charged in connection to the July 17, 2024 incident in August.